From cloth to serge and from ‘frame lands’ to a wool factory. Archaeologist and historian Roos van Oosten was pleasantly surprised by what she found out about Garenmarkt in Leiden. The historical research on the site of the new car park, which opens to the public on 19 February, has added a new chapter…

Private collectors John Steegh and Harrie Teunissen from Dordrecht have donated their entire collection of maps, city plans and atlases to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). In almost 40 years they brought together circa 17,000 map sheets and 2,300 atlases and travel guides. Especially the thematic…

In the late 19th century, the Dutch government introduced a tax system in the Dutch East Indies, with the intention of transforming the colony into a modern state. PhD student Maarten Manse wrote his thesis on this development and discovered how grandiloquent colonial ideals became bogged down in daily…

Seven researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant. This will enable them to start their own project, build their research team and put their best ideas into action.

How can you learn about women’s history if they are under-represented in historical sources? Look at news coverage of crime, says Clare Wilkinson, PhD candidate in gender and history. ‘Historical crime reporting offers a glimpse into forgotten groups.’ The doctoral defence will take place on 23 Apri…

In 2020, many of our staff and students have again won prestigious prizes and been awarded important research subsidies.

Corinne Hofman, Leiden Professor of the Archaeology of the Caribbean Region has been awarded the 2013 KNAW Merian Prize for women in science. Her aim with her research is to broaden the history of the colonisation of the Americas to include the perspective of the indigenous Indian population.

After Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), the farming culture of the indigenous people quickly disappeared. This has been demonstrated by Leiden archaeologists and colleagues from other universities on the basis of soil research. Publication in…

Archaeologist Jason Laffoon was awarded an NWO Vidi grant for an innovative investigation into ancient migrations in the western Caribbean. The innovative character of this research project lies in the wide-scale application of isotope analysis and isotope mapping. ‘We aim at further developing methods…

Archaeologist Corinne Hofman wins the Distinguished Lorentz Fellowship 2018/19 for research into the changing world of indigenous peoples as a result of colonialism. “The perspective of indigenous communities is still lacking in most history books.

In July 2023, Leiden University conducted another phase of its ongoing archaeological collaboration with the Kalinago Territory in the Caribbean island of Dominica. Activities focused on mapping and assessing coastal sites impacted by climate stressors, undertaking knowledge-exchange sessions, and co-creating…

A new student-curated exhibition in the F1-corridor of the Van Steenis building brings history to life through remarkable finds from the Amsterdam, a merchant vessel of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) that met an untimely end in 1749. 'The story of the Amsterdam is truly unique, especially considering…

Maritime archaeologist Martijn Manders has been appointed professor of Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Cultural Heritage Management at Leiden University. He will combine his new appointment at the Faculty of Archaeology, which began on 15 July 2022, with his current position at the Cultural Heritage…

The Council of the Academia Europaea (AE) has announced prof.dr. Corinne Hofman as one of the new Academy members. Corinne Hofman, Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology is one of a number of eminent international scholars from across the continent of Europe who were invited to accept membership in 2016,…

Het zichtbaar maken van ongeschreven verhalen van inheemse culturen en volken van de Cariben. Dat doet de tentoonstelling ‘Caribbean Ties’ in de Oude UB.

The exhibition Unity and Diversity in the Amerindian Caribbean: The El Cabo San Rafael Archaeological Site has been officially opened by Prof. dr. Corinne Hofman on Tuesday evening in Santo Domingo.

Leiden researchers have developed a new method of determining the geographic origin of humans. Archaeologist Jason Laffoon and his team used the technique to discover where precolonial pioneers in the Caribbean region came from.

From indigenous space to colonial setting. Archaeological investigations at El Chorro de Maita in Cuba wins prestigious prize.

The dental remains of 25 enslaved Africans from the site of Newton's Plantation, on Barbados, were subjected to isotope analysis. Previous research had pointed out that the locally born individuals were subjected to high concentrations of lead poisoning. A new study, done by Dr Jason Laffoon among others…

The international travelling exhibition Caribbean Ties will open at Museon in The Hague on Saturday 25 May. It tells the untold story of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and their lives before, during and after European colonisation. Caribbean Ties will be on show simultaneously in 11 countries…

The Faculty of Archaeology is pleased to announce that Dr Sarah Schrader has been appointed as the new Head of the Department of Archaeological Sciences (DV). In April 2026 she succeeds Dr Jason Laffoon, who has led the department for the past six years.

New research has revealed that one of Europe’s largest prehistoric mass graves records the deliberate killing of women and children, showing how gender- and age-selective violence was used to disrupt communities and assert power in the Early Iron Age. Leiden archaeologist Jason Laffoon was involved…

On the 442nd anniversary of the foundation of Leiden University, and at the start of the Leiden Asia Year, lawyer Jan Michiel Otto, an expert in the field of law in developing countries, delivered the first Dies lecture. He compared demagogues in Asia who call upon Muslims to turn against their governments…

The conference Storie del possibile took place in the Ex- lavanderia of Santa Maria della Pietà in the neighbourhood Monte Mario in Rome, on April 21-22 2018. Maria Vasile, PhD candidate of the "Food Citizens?" project, attended the conference and shares her experiences.

On 20 September 2024, Leiden University colleagues Associate Professor Gianclaudio Malgieri (Main Applicant), Assistant Professor Michael Klos (Co-Applicant), Professor Simone van der Hof (Co-Applicant), Constanta Rosca, Maria-Lucia Rebrean and Maëlle Picout gladly welcomed RESOCIAL’s consortium members…

On Monday 26 August, students were warmly welcomed at the Wijnhaven location with a blue carpet and live music. Accompanied by their friends and family, they gathered to receive their BSc Security Studies diploma.

KNAW has elected eighteen new members, including two professors at Leiden University and one who studied and obtained his PhD in Leiden. The New Academy members will be installed at a later date this year.

Korrie Korevaart, a former director and lecturer in Dutch language and culture at Leiden University, has been made a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau. Korevaart, who has retired but is still a guest member of staff at the university, has received the honour for her work at the Faculty of Humanities…

Gesloten jeugdhulp moet afgeschaft worden, zei Jason (21) onlangs in de landelijke media. Zelf zat hij ruim een jaar in meerdere instellingen voor gesloten jeugdhulp, maar hij werd er naar eigen zeggen niet beter van. Promovendus Maria de Jong-de Kruijf onderzocht het hoe en waarom van deze vorm van…

October and November not only bring a number of proud Political Science graduates, it is also the season to determine who wrote the best bachelor’s thesis. For 2021-2022, fifteen theses were nominated. During the various graduation ceremonies the two final winners were announced: Essi Maria Teresia…

Humans are increasingly losing agency on social media. A team of legal scholars from Leiden University, computer scientists from other universities and civil society organisations, is conducting a study into the balance of power between Big Tech and users.

The team from Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) came out on top at the international online Moot Court organised by Leiden University and law firm Baker McKenzie.

This page features an overview of relevant lectures, publications and conference papers.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2020, as well as special appointments at Leiden University and other institutions.

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of Leiden University’s Faculty of Medicine with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Tanzania.

The idea that prejudices about the (Middle)-East came to be during the colonisation of North-Africa in the 19th century is false. Mounir el-Badri wrote a cum laude bachelor thesis about orientalist judgments with which 18th century slaves in Morocco much earlier characterised their captors with.

Symposium on the extraordinary excavations at Middenbeemster

Research by bioarchaeologists from Leiden and Canada has shown that 19th-century Dutch farmers regularly had bone defects. These may have been caused by wearing clogs. Publication in the International Journal of Paleopathology.

Put two single people in one place and what do you get? Science! Psychologists at Leiden University will be conducting research on human attraction at the Lowlands festival on the 19th of August.

How do democracies develop? The Institute for History is devoting a three-day conference to this question.

Since 2009, at ACPA, 95 candidates received their PhD in Creative and Performing Arts. On this page you will find an overview of ACPA's alumni.

‘Let’s get everyone home safely!’ This was the message of an estimated 750 demonstrators as they marched through the centre of Leiden on 18 November.

What’s new, BAIS alumni? This summer, the BAIS Alumni Association hosted the yearly alumni reunion, organized in virtual format for the second time after the previous reunion also took place online in 2020. Feeling the need to compensate for the lack of in-person interaction, the Alumni Association…

Leiden University College is buzzing with life again. On 13 August, this year’s new crop of students moved into their rooms. For more than two hundred first-year students, LUC will be their home for the next three years. On the occasion of ‘moving day’, we spoke with three of them.

An inclusive holiday calendar for the municipality Leiden or a new website for the Fenestra Disability Centre. It is a small selection of the solutions that honours students developed to make our current society more equal. For months they worked on these ideas and proudly presented their findings last…

On Thursday 15 February, the second ILS Lunch Seminar of 2018 took place. Prof. Jean-Pierre van der Rest and Maria Berghuis gave two excellent presentations on their particular research topics.

It’s starting to become a real Dies Natalis tradition: on 8 February professors from Leiden University teach a class at primary schools in the region. This introduces children to academia and teaches them more about conducting research. ‘Had you expected me to be a woman?’